Policy Engagement & Communications

Policy Engagement

Acknowledging that policy engagement is not a finite or binary proposition, we will promote engagement that is enduring, continuous and achieves incremental change in perception and action. Sustained policy impact can
only be transformative when it also leads to changed systems, investments, programs, and behaviors.
PEC has developed three ways to use research evidence to inform and influence policy discussions and decision-making, to identify and nurture champions in and out of government, with the ultimate goal of driving more
resources toward interventions that work:

The More and Better approach: to encourage wider implementation of what already exists by broadening collaboration.

The Revise for Responsiveness approach: to encourage responsiveness to changing contexts and unmet needs.

The Initiate for Impact approach: to encourage the formulation and implementation of new policies to meet emerging needs due to evolving contexts.

Our responsibility in the 2017-2021 period is to broaden our reach within the context of each approach, while improving our ability to track and monitor our progress toward our desired outcome and impact.
This will include defining the ways APHRC contributes to research uptake both among policy-makers and within the wider development sector. It will mean a targeted, strategic expansion of geographic coverage that includes
establishing and growing relationships and increasing participation, collaboration and influencing decision-making and agenda-setting at the sub-national, national, regional and global levels.
Critically, this work will extend beyond the Research Division and into the Research Capacity Strengthening Division, in order to inculcate the importance of policy orientation in the next generation of research leaders in
Africa. Research uptake will be pursued via:

Knowledge management platforms: to share and learn within a wide network of interested stakeholders, advocates and academics using tested tools.

National forums: to capitalize on existing efforts to enhance a culture of evidence in national decision-making.

Pan-African forums: including the AU, UNECA and the Network of African Parliamentary Committees of Health (NEAPACOH).

Global forums: such as The Lancet Commissions; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; and the World Economic Forum.